The Aftermath
by soccerwriter
Summary: This takes place after the gang is out of Tower Prep. They attend Ian's old school and they must hide their abilities. CJ, though, is deathly afraid that Tower Prep will find them and take them back. CJxIan! Will probably update infrequently. NOTONPURPOSE
1. Chapter 1

**Okay I hope you guys all like this since this is my first Tower Prep fanfic. Feel free to diss it all you want. Or love it. I just wanna say that I totally called the fact that Headmaster was CJ's father.**

**This takes place after they all get out. They live by each other and go to school together. Thanks!**

Ian Archer

I looked down beside me at my girl friend, CJ ward. Her breath came in short gasps like she was having a nightmare, which she had lots of. My eyebrows scrunched together in frustration knowing that I shouldn't wake her up. CJ had told me that she likes to sort through her dreams by herself and not to be woken up from them. No matter how bad.

I put on a clean shirt and walked downstairs into the kitchen. I saw my mom making eggs as usual. At first, when she saw me on the doorstep in the rain with a random girl she had been very angry.

_Flashback_

"_Mom," I gasped in relief. I watched as her emotions went across her face. He saw shock, love, fear, and then very angry._

"_It's not what you think, Mrs. Archer," CJ had said quietly, "Tower Prep was an awful place. We had to get out and there was no where else for us to go."_

"_How did you get here?" She had asked with obvious wonder, "Tower Prep was extremely well guarded."_

"_We had help from some outsiders. Apparently Headmaster-" out of the corner of my eye I saw CJ wince, "had some interesting things for me planned. I doubt that I would have been allowed to live much longer if I had stayed."_

"_Ian, I'm sorry," My mother began, "I really thought that it was the best place for you to go to help you."_

"_Help me?"_

"_She thinks you went there to cure your "problems." CJ said, "She believes that your ability is a disease."_

"_How do you know that?" _

"_I can read you like a book," CJ said angrily, "its my ability. Not my disease."_

"_Mom, can we discuss this later? I want to get inside and out of the rain."_

"_Who said you can stay here?" That gave me a shock. Was my own mother not letting her son into his house?_

"_What could you possibly mean?" CJ asked, equally shocked, "Ian's your son!"_

"_But what if they come after you? Won't I get in trouble?" She asked sadly._

"_No, they wouldn't want to make a scene. Tower Prep doesn't exist remember? They would take us and leave." I explained mostly to myself._

"_Are there more than just you two?"_

"_Gabe and Suki," CJ said, "But they are living at Gabe's, who is just a half hour away."_

"_Well if you must. I'll get your room ready."_

_End Flashback_

CJ, Gabe, Suki, and I have are first day at Prinkton High today. We first had wanted to adjust to life before throwing school into it. My mother had convinced the principal to take my friends and me in even after I had been expelled.

After finishing my breakfast I walked back upstairs to see CJ crying and shaking on my bed, her body racking with the intensity of her cries. When she looked at me her eyes were bright red and full of terror.

**So what do you think? Throughout the story be giving flashbacks as to how they escaped. Give me any ideas you guys have. Ok? Hope you like it so far. Next chapter will be CJ's dream and then the rest of the school day. How will Ian's students react to seeing him back with 3 friends? How will they hide their abilities? Stay tuned to find out!**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	2. Chapter 2

**You guys make me feel so good about myself! You guys gave me 6 reviews in one chapter? AMAZING! Keep them coming! Feel free to be as mean as you want too. This chapter starts off with CJ's nightmare and then continues on into her perspective of the first school day. Hope you like it!**

CJ

_Dream_

_I was sitting on the carpet of my house with my mother playing cards. My ten-year-old self had convinced my mom to play Go Fish for the 50__th__ time._

"_Candace, honey," She laughed, "You can't just not take a card. You must play by the rules."_

"_But mommy! I don't like that rule!" I whined. We were sitting across from each other and my father was nowhere to be found…or so I thought._

"_Candace," She explained, "There are rules for a reason. You mustn't break them."_

"_But aren't some rules meant to be broken?" She laughed at my innocence._

"_In some cases that may be true. Go Fish is not one of those cases." She said. I finally accepted and took a card. Just as I was about to ask her if she had any queens my father walked in. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my mother stiffen._

"_DADDY!" I yelled and ran to give him a hug. He hugged quickly back and turned to stare at my mother._

"_Juliet, " He said quietly to my mother, "May I talk to you?"_

"_What about?" She said coldly. At the time I had no idea what the argument had been about._

"_You have stayed your visit too long," He whispered. My mother turned white._

"_What?" She said, her voice cracking._

"_Juliet you must leave." I stared up at my dad and saw a dead look in his eyes._

"_Daddy, why must mommy go?" I asked. He looked at me and then knelt down to my eye level._

"_Your mommy is not like us, Candace," He explained, "She does not belong with us."_

"_But what if I want her to stay?"_

"_She can't" He responded coldly._

"_She's my daughter I have every right to stay!" My mother said as her voice rose with anger. My father stood up and looked my mother in the eye._

"_You can't be around her anymore!" He yelled._

"_You can't take her away from me!" My mother screamed. I backed up to the wall and tried to block out the sounds of their screaming. They got closer and closer until my father grabbed my mother and flung her towards the door._

"_Men! Take my wife away!" He yelled as masked men walked in. My mother tried to run toward me but wasn't fast enough. _

"_CANDACE!" My mother yelled causing everyone to flinch. Her voice was shrill and full of terror. Even though my ability was still weak at the team I could see the unadulterated fear written all over her beautiful face. _

"_MOMMY!" I yelled as soon as I realized that these masked men were here to take my mother away. I tried to run to her but my father held me back. I watched helplessly as my mother was dragged away from me. The last image I had of her the one of pure hatred and loss. _

_End Dream_

I woke up gasping for air. No nightmare had been that real before, I told myself. I was still trying to gain control of my emotions when Ian walked into the room. I saw the confusion and fear on his face. He ran toward me and held me just like my mother used to.

"Ceej," He asked, "What's wrong?" I shook my head, knowing that I couldn't talk.

"Was it a nightmare?" When I nodded he held me tighter. He made calming noises to me until I could talk.

"It was about my mother," I whispered. I knew he was confused by the way he held me.

"What about her?"

"The time my father took her away from me," I cried as I began to sob again.

"Why did he take her away CJ?" He wondered.

"My mother did not have any abilities," I explained, "She was just a normal human being. My father did not want her around Tower Prep or me."

"CJ that's awful," He gasped. He held me for a long time but then told me we had to get ready for school.

…

When Gabe, Suki, Ian, and I walked into school, I was immediately scared. What would happen today? How would the students react at seeing Ian back? Ian, as if sensing my emotions like my father could, took my hand and squeezed it.

Ian had truly been the most amazing boyfriend ever since we had left Tower Prep. He would make me laugh, buy me stuff, and he took me into his house. Whenever he was around I felt safe.

"IAN ARCHER!" A rough voice broke me from my reverie. Ian spun quickly with me in tow and soon we were facing a very built kid. His black hair in contrast with his green eyes and I could tell he probably weighed over 250. From the look on his face, I could see the hatred he held for Ian.

"Hey, Ricky," Ian laughed. I could tell he was not afraid and personally neither was I. There was no way this kid could even lay a hand on Ian due to Ian's preflex.

"What are you doing back?" He yelled.

"Did you miss me?"

"MISS YOU? I wish you never came back and now you will too." He was about to punch when Gabe spoke up.

"Hello," He said and I could tell he was laying the hyper suasion on thick, "I don't think you really want to do that. I mean, what would the principal say? Now just walk away and don't look back. Ok?" Ricky nodded and walked away almost as if in a dream.

"Gabe," Suki said, "you have to be careful about that kind of stuff. We must be normal kids remember?"

"All right." He sighed in frustration. No more could he just boss random people around.

"Who was that kid Ian?" I asked. He smiled and said, "Just the kid who I fought with before I got expelled!" I laughed and took his hand.

"PDA! PDA!" Gabe yelled. Suki giggled into her hand and Ian just quickly pecked me on the lips causing his classmates to stare in wonder.

"Ian" I said sheepishly, "Everyone's staring."

"Let them," Ian whispered as he leaned down for one more kiss. Just as we were about to close the gap between the two of us, Gabe pulled Ian away and started to ask him about the teachers. I sighed as Suki took my arm and pulled me along.

RICKY

That jerk, Ian Archer, was back. Of all people! I thought that he was finally gone after he didn't show up the day after our fight. It was weird, though; most of the time you would still see expelled kids out of school. It's not like our town is very big. I would see his mom shopping at the store and she would look depressed. She had sunken eyes, a slow walk, and never looked at anyone. It was almost as if…as if, Ian had _died. _He was gone for a whole year and his parents never got any better.

Not that I cared! He's a loser, I thought, and he doesn't deserve that hot little chick that was standing beside him. I assumed they were together by the way they stood as close as possible to each other when I yelled at Ian. Another weird thing about Archer and his gang was that the glasses kid made me do something I didn't want to do. I couldn't say no. It was like I wanted to do what he said.

"Ricky!" My buddy, Jared, said. I looked at him for a second before turning my attention back to my food. My tray was stacked high with crap. Even if it was god awful, I still had to eat.

"RICKY!" Jared said again only this time louder.

"What the hell?" I growled.

"What do you think of Archer being back?" He said. I knew what he was thinking.

"You mean," I laughed, "When can we beat him up?"

"Oh yah."

"As soon as all his friends are away from him," I explained evilly.

"But I wanted to beat up to nerd!"

"Don't. All we want is Ian. The rest aren't worth it."

"This is gonna be good," Jared whispered. I looked around the cafeteria and saw Ian and his "gang" of losers eating together. Ian had his arm slung around the hotties's shoulder and was whispering in her ear. Apparently it was funny because she laughed, really hard. I began to notice some things as I was watching them.

For instance, when the nerd threw something at Archer he had his hand up before the kid even threw it. Archer had _known _what was gonna happen before it did. Something was up about this kid and I was gonna find out.

"Screw this waiting," I said and stood up. I walked over to their table and yelled.

"ARCHER! YOU, ME, OUTSIDE, AFTER SCHOOL! I want a rematch." I smirked and walked away knowing what would happen at 3 o' clock.

**Holy crap that was long! I really like this story I'm writing and I hope you do to! If you want to see some of my other writing check out my VIRALS fanfic. It's not as good.**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for making all of you guys wait! I have to write this stuff when my mom isn't home because she doesn't "approve" of my writing. Whatever. Thanks so much for the reviews and sorry if this chapter doesn't meet your expectations but reviews do help.**

**This is the fight from CJ and IAN's point of view. I'll probably have this whole story just be them but you never know RICKY or SUKI might pop up too!**

IAN

I smiled as Ricky walked away. If he thought I was hard to beat last time then he was going to die this time, I thought.

"Ian," Suki whispered, "You know you can't win this fight. Right?" My smile disappeared.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," CJ said, "We all know that you can beat this kid with your eyes closed but that's not normal. Is it? Your preflex makes you impossible to beat so in case you can turn it off and fight without it, you are gonna have to let him hit you."

"What if I just defend myself and not fight him back?" I reasoned.

"That could work," Gabe added, "but it may look suspicious if he can never lay a hand on you."

"What about teachers?" CJ asked. I didn't need her gift to see how much she was worried. I gave her hand a light squeeze.

"What about them?" Gabe asked as he pushed his glasses back onto his nose.

"Ian could get suspended for fighting, couldn't he?" She explained.

"Which makes it even more necessary for me to only defend and not provoke the fight." I said. I knew how Ricky fought: instinct not logic.

"It's gonna be fine," Suki said, "Nothing can go wrong with just a little fight. Right?"

I still had two more periods after lunch until the end of the day. All of Ricky's buddies looked at me and sneered whenever I walked by. I tried my best not to laugh as they tried to scare me repeatedly. Somehow the teachers never figured out about the fight, which was pretty amazing since that was all anyone, could talk about. Thinking about fighting reminded me about Tower Prep and I did not like to think about Tower Prep.

_Flashback_

_I was walking up and down the halls of Tower Prep with CJ when the monitors passed us. They nodded slowly and kept on going._

"_I really hate those guys," CJ whispered after they had passed._

"_Why?" I asked._

"_They pretend like they are doing good but we all know that they are just trying to keep us contained."_

"_That's what this whole place is about. Do we even know if we ever get out? How do we know that the Gnomes aren't just graduated students?" I growled. CJ gasped._

"_But-but," She stammered, "We have to get out! We thought we escaped that first time but we didn't! I can't have that again Ian! I have to get out!"_

"_I know," I soothed her, "We will but it will be hard. We are gonna have to be careful. Tower Prep holds too many secrets."_

_End Flashback_

Once the final bell rang I met up with CJ, Suki, and Gabe. Cj, of course, was obviously nervous but for some reason Gabe was smiling.

"What's up man?" I asked him.

"I just can't wait until you beat that guy senseless!" He pretended to throw some punches but stopped when I caught his fist.

"I'm on defense, remember? I can't fight back," I sighed. I really wanted to hit Ricky. After all, I could blame my reason for getting sent to Tower Prep on him.

"Hey Archer!" Ricky called from across the quad, "You ready?"

"Just don't cry when you lose. Ok, Ricky?" I mocked him. We got close to each other. I could feel his breath on my face and smiled. This was gonna be fun, I thought.

"Archer, you may have gotten away with things at your old school but now that you're back you're mine," He whispered. He had no idea what Tower Prep was like, I thought before red flashed around my eyes and I saw Ricky's fist heading toward my head. I put my hand up before he even lifted his.

CJ

I gasped as I saw Ian grab Ricky's hand. Ian took a step back and let go of the other boy's hand. Ricky got mad and swung at my boyfriend again. Ian ducked quickly and backed up once again. By now they were in the middle of the quad surrounded by students and faculty. The faculty tried occasionally to get the boys to stop but Ricky put them to shame. He would yell at them and push them away. So now they just stood and watched.

"Ian!" I yelled as Ricky grabbed his arm. Even though I knew that Ian was letting Ricky hurt him I didn't like to watch. Ricky threw Ian on the ground. Ian landed with a thud but was back up in a second.

"STAY DOWN!" Ricky yelled. He was obviously losing his cool because when Ian just smiled back and stepped away he screamed.

"AAAAHH!" He ran toward Ian but Ian put his hand to Ricky's head and held him back. It was like what I would do to a five year old.

"Now Ricky," I heard Ian say, "are we done here? Because my mother is going to be wondering where I have been."

"Let-me-go!" Ricky said in between gasps, "This is not over!"

"Oh, but I think it is," Ian let Ricky go and due to his momentum Ricky tumbled forward and landed face first on the cement.

"Wooh!" Gabe yelled. I hugged Suki and walked up to Ian.

"Good job," I whispered before I pecked him on the lips. He smiled and returned the kiss. While I was kissing Ian I didn't realize the Ricky had stood back up. I also didn't realize that he had started to stalk toward me.

RICKY

That Archer kid was going to pay, I decided. So once I had recovered from hitting the ground I walked up to his girlfriend and grabbed her. For once, Ian didn't see it coming. I pulled the girl causing her to cry out.

"I really don't think we are through," I said with my mouth full of blood.

"Let her go," Ian growled. In the back of my mind I registered the pure hatred in Ian's eyes but I made no move to let the girl go.

"I never learned your name," I said to the girl. She shook her head and tried to back up but I held onto her. She was shaking under my grip.

"Oh no you don't!" I pulled her again. Ian froze.

"Ricky," Ian whispered, "Let her go."

"Why should I?"

"She's about to have a panic attack Ricky! Let her go!" Ian said his voice rising as he spoke.

"Haha," Ricky laughed, "Aren't you a little low for that?" Something in Ian's eyes changed. I could see that he wanted to hurt me. He wanted to _kill_ me. For some reason I still didn't let the girl go even though I could feel her rough breathing and shaking body. One quick look down to her and I saw her skin was pale white and her pupils were dilated.

"Ricky," Ian said, dangerously calm, "I warned you." He stalked up to me and before I could even move he hit me across the face with his fist. I let go of the girl and clutched my now broken jaw. Ian still moved toward me, his eyes gleaming with hate. I took a step back but Ian grabbed me then threw me down. I could do nothing to stop my fall.

IAN

I was gonna beat Ricky to a pulp because he didn't believe how serious the situation was but then Suki called my name.

"Ian!" She shouted. I turned around and saw CJ collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. I rushed over and felt her pulse. It was beating a million miles per hour.

"We need to get her to the hospital!" Gabe yelled. But when I looked down at my girlfriend she was shaking her head no frantically.

"What CJ?" I asked.

"No doctor. Can't find out about ability," She weezed.

"We'll worry about that later!" I yelled. I picked her up and had Gabe call the ambulance.

"Hold on CJ!" I yelled as her eyes started to close.

**Approval? I hope you like it because I do! 18 reviews in 2 chapters? I love you guys! Next chapter is going to be CJ's view of her panic attack and then how the gang deals with the hospital. It's going to be intense.**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm so sorry I made you wait this long! You probably hate me! I did some researching on panic attacks and I think I got it down pretty well. Tell me what you think and don't be afraid to be hurtful. It only helps. **

**Here we go!**

CJ

I was perfectly fine kissing Ian until Ricky pulled me away. I wasn't scared until he pulled me a second time. Images immediately flashed through my mind.

_Flashback_

_Gnomes all around us, Ian screaming me name, and pain, so much pain. We had been exploring Tower Prep Level Two's forest when a bunch of gnomes attacked. They were more advanced than the old ones and were harder to fight off. _

"_CJ!" Ian screamed. _

"_I'm here!" I replied, scared out of my mind. Before I could get to him and gnome grabbed me. I screamed and thrashed but it held on. I felt one of its spikes, also new, digging into my flesh._

"_IAN! HELP!" I managed to get out before it forcefully closed my mouth with its hand. It dug its spikes in farther and I felt blood begin to roll down my back. There was nothing I could do to fight back and I was terrified._

_What if this is how I die? I thought to myself. What if I never got to tell Ian how I'm in love with him? _

_Finally, the gnome was pulled away and I collapsed. There must have been some kind of poison on the spike for I was immediately dizzy. The blood continued to pulse out of my back and I screamed. It hurt so much! Ian grabbed me and I remember seeing his worry. I vaguely sensed that all the other gnomes were defeated. _

"_CJ? What happened?" He asked. Gabe and Suki stood behind him, just as worried._

"_Spikes," I gasped through the pain. I was seeing red and tears started to flow out of my eyes. "Hurts."_

"_I know Ceej," Ian whispered. "Everything is going to be alright." For once Ian's voice could not calm me down. The poison was making me scared. I started to think I was dying and I screamed again._

"_Ian! What are we going to do?" Suki cried. Gabe took her hand and looked down at me._

"_I don't know!" Ian replied frantically. Ian got up and got water from the bag we had packed. He gently turned me over and poured some of it on the wound. _

_When the cool liquid touched my burning wound I screamed, once again. I felt like I was burning. Even though it hurt, the water did help. I eventually calmed down and cried into Ian's shoulder. He held me for hours while Suki fell asleep on Gabe on the forest floor. Finally, we all got up to leave. Even though I could barely walk I made it to my room._

_End flashback_

When Ricky pulled me the wound seemed to reopen and with it the memories. I panicked as my fears presented themselves in my mind. I didn't hear Ian's cried or Suki's or anyone's. I don't remember getting lifted onto a stretcher or the fact that Ian held my hand the entire way through. I couldn't breathe and the oxygen mask didn't help. I felt like I was dying, even though I knew I wasn't.

All I knew was the pain. The pain in my back caused by a gnome in Tower Prep. Tower Prep made me terrified and every time I felt my scar I thought I was back in that horrid place.

When I got to the hospital the doctor's put me in emergency care. After an hour my heart and breathing rate were back to normal but they wanted to keep me over night. They stitched up my scar and some how treated it. Ian, Suki, and Gabe stayed with me through it all.

"Where are the parents?" The doctor asked Ian. He responded for me.

"There are no parents."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Ian explained angrily, "_She has no parents! _She lives with me."

"And your parents?"

"Are unavailable." The doctor shrugged and shook his head.

"We took some blood samples and you seem fine. You should be able to leave tomorrow," he said to me. I just nodded weakly. When he left Gabe told Ian,

"Will her abilities show up in her blood?"

"I don't know."

"We can't have anyone know she was here!" Suki said desperately.

"Gabe," Ian said, taking on his leader tone, "Can you convince the staff to give you her files?"

"Yes. I can also convince them that we were never here."

"Good. I guess Tower Prep did help our abilities after all," Ian sighed. At the sound of Tower Prep my heart rate sped up and everyone heard it.

"Ceej," Suki whispered, "it's okay." Ian took my hand and stroked it. I looked into his eyes and saw comfort.

"Is your back okay?" He whispered. I nodded, not trusting my voice. In truth it did hurt a little but I could deal with it.

"Most of the doctors have gone home for the night," Gabe said suddenly. "It's now or never."

"Now." Ian said quietly. Gabe left the room and closed the door.

GABE

CJ going to the hospital scared me. She was one of my best friends and I didn't want to see her hurt. I knew that Tower Prep had changed CJ the most because her dad was one of the headmasters but I never knew it made her have panic attacks. Ian told me she had nightmares but we all did. Mine usually consisted of West Campus.

When I saw our doctor I went up to him.

"Hello," I said while laying the hyersuasion on thick. "Could we possibly have my friend CJ's file?"

"Why yes of course!" He smiled and turned around. He led me to a locked room with a bunch of cabinets. He quickly found CJ's and handed it to me.

"Thank you," I smiled, "Oh! By the way, my friends and I were never here."

"Never here," the doctor replied dumbly.

"Yes, and you will tell no one that we were."

"I will tell no one." I smiled and walked back to the room where my friend's were.

"We are good!" I laughed. Everyone looked relieved.

IAN

I told Gabe and Suki to go home and rest while I stayed with CJ. I held her hand while she fell asleep and continued to do so until I did.

I was fast asleep until a sound of fast beeping woke me up. I saw CJ thrashing around in her hospital sheets. Now usually I would let her sort out her problems but not tonight.

"Ceej!" I shook her awake. For a moment it looked like she didn't know where she was but when she saw me she relaxed.

"It's okay," I whispered. She smiled and fell back into her bed. I didn't sleep the rest of the night but just watched her. Her brown hair was fanned out and her hands were lying across her stomach. She looked so peaceful and innocent in her sleep as if nothing was wrong but something was wrong. CJ couldn't go through the rest of her life in fear. I wouldn't let that happen.

I would make CJ Ward safe, I promised myself. No more nightmares, no more panic attack. My girlfriend's life would be normal if it was the last thing I do.

**I'm not that big of a fan of this chapter. Hopefully you are, though. It's hard to type since I broke my pinky but I'm doing it for you guys! I love you!**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry! Sorry! Forgive me! I actually forgot about this story! I know you all hate me, but you should hate the producers of Tower Prep even more! I mean, where is the second season? We're waiting….**

**This Chapter will just be Ian taking CJ on a date after her "accident". Lots of fluff, k?**

CJ POV

The wall was really pretty, I realized as I sat on Ian's bed. It was blue with lots of pretty purple flowers spreading up around it. Why this was a boy's room I have no idea. These walls were completely different than the plain white ones in my Tower Prep dorm room. _Tower Prep._ I flinched involuntarily at the sound of that name. That school took everything from me. My freedom, my mother, _my life. _

"Ceej?" Ian whispered from the doorway. I glanced at him then went back to staring at the wall. I registered him walking over to me but did not acknowledge it.

"Ceej," He whispered, "It's okay." Huh? Why was he saying that? Why was he comforting me? I wasn't sad.

"Why are you crying?" I was crying? Lifting my hand to my face, I felt salty tears on my cheeks.

"Oh," I sighed. I looked at Ian and was momentarily blinded by his handsomeness. How I got him to love me was beyond me.

"Come here," He said softly. Sitting with his arms around me always made everything better. I leaned my head back onto his shoulder and he laid his cheek on top of my head. "Let's go somewhere."

"What?" I said. "What do you mean?"

"I want to take you on a date," He laughed.

"Like a real date? One with dinner and a movie? That kind a thing?" I frowned. We had never done one of those.

"Yes! And a new movie just came out!"

"Which one? Limitless!" Ian exclaimed.

"No way! If we're gonna see a movie we're gonna see Prom." I laughed. "Got it?"

"But Ceej-"Ian whined.

"Don't 'but Ceej' me! You know I'm gonna win this argument! I can see you giving up on your face!"

"Fine. But I get to choose the restaurant."

…...

IAN POV

I had told CJ to dress nicely but when I saw her walking down my stairs in a mini black dress with her hair spilling out onto her shoulders the least I can say was that I was shocked. She wore tall electric blue heels that added 3 inches to her height making her almost even with me.

"Close your mouth Ian. You're drooling," She laughed. I hope I wasn't too underdressed compared to her. After all, I was only wearing a white shirt with a black blazer on top and my nice jeans.

"You look good. I don't think I've ever seen you so dressed up," she laughed. I loved her laugh. It was infectious and just perfect. CJ hadn't been smiling lately so I was happy to see her like this.

"Well thank you. But you my darling our perfection!" I stated causing her to blush a deep red. We joined hands and walked out to my car. Actually, it was my mom's car but CJ doesn't have to know that.

"What restaurant are you dragging me too Ian?"

"It's a surprise." I laughed. Unfortunately, that caused a shadow to fall across her beautiful face.

"I don't like surprises," She whispered in a broken voice. I couldn't take seeing her so sad so I crushed my lips to hers and kissed all the sadness out of her.

"What was that for?" She asked, once we broke apart, breathlessly.

"I. Have. No. Idea." I gasped.

Once at the restaurant the waiter, his name was Phil, led us to a private booth in the back.

"Enjoy yourselves," he said, "you're waitress will be here soon to take your order."

"Thank you," CJ and I said together. We sat across from each other and held hands under the table.

"So…" I said awkwardly.

"So…" She repeated. "What now? You're the experienced one here! You should know!"

"Actually I'm not. NO girls liked me before." I laughed. She just shook her head.

"That's impossible, Ian. You're _gorgeous!_" She said with a smile.

"Um, well, uh, thank you?" I blushed. This just made her laugh even more.

"I don't know much about your life before…. you know what," She paused but continued. "Did you play any sports?"

"Is fighting douches a sport?" I suggested.

"I guess…. anything else I should know about?" She inquired.

"What do you want to know Ceej? Even without your skill I can tell you want to know something," I laughed.

"Did you even have friends at your old school?" She whispered teasingly.

"I-I had friends! Kinda," I said shyly. "Okay, no I didn't. I mostly helped the teachers during lunch or I protected the nerds."

She burst out laughing.

CJ POV

After we saw Prom, which Ian hated, he drove me back to his house in his mom's car. I don't think he knew that I knew that this wasn't his car, but I let it slide. I'll let him feel macho for a little longer, I thought. On our way back he showed me the neighborhood in which he lived in. It was quaint and felt small even though it wasn't.

"I had a great time tonight," I whispered to him. As a response he just pulled me into a kiss. We were on his front porch and there was only one light above us. It was a long kiss. Sweet and not rushed, like the others. A feeling of peace washed over me when I was with him. Nothing made me feel as safe as I did when I was with Ian.

He looked into my chocolate brown eyes and that was when I could tell he really, truly loved me.

"I love you," he whispered softly. Each word filled with his utter devotion.

"Oh, Ian! I've loved you for so long," I said in return. Tears spilled down my face for the second time today, but these were happy.

"Good," He kissed away my tears and pulled me inside.

"You are amazing but I'm tired." I stated. He raised his eyebrow.

"Do you want to sleep with me?" He asked innocently. WHAT THE-?

"Ian Archer!"  
"You have a dirty mind Ward. I actually meant sleep but if you want to-?"

"Ian! I would love to _sleep _with you. Nothing more!" I laughed. I pulled him upstairs and we both lay down on his bed.

I fell asleep with him holding me and I knew this is where I wanted to stay for a long time.

**Too fluffy? Do you hate it? I know you do, so just tell me. Or you could love it? Either one, just review!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


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